Respect is earned

by **dboss** Sat Sep 12, 2020 5:33 pm

From a Raptors blog, takeaway #5 Marcus Smart

5. Give it up for Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum was spectacular last night, and I take nothing away from him. But Marcus Smart’s fingerprints were all over this series.

He may not have much class, may flail and flop more than anyone else in the league, but he is a damn fine defender. Which, honestly, just makes the flopping that much more egregious. He doesn’t need to flop! He’s not Patrick Beverley. He’s actually a legitimately good defender, both on the ball and as a help defender.

He was such a difference maker all series. He hit five threes in Game 1, and followed that up in a much-tighter Game 2 by hitting five threes in the fourth quarter to help seal a Celtics win. He stymied Pascal Siakam repeatedly in the two games, gave both Lowry and VanVleet fits whenever he guarded either one, and successfully guarded Serge Ibaka at times too. He was straight cash money from the corners in Game 6.

Last night, with the Raptors up seven in the second quarter, he sparked a 15-2 run almost entirely on his own. First, he stole a VanVleet pass, and threw a perfect alley-oop to Tatum. Then he drew an offensive foul on Ibaka, and hit a floater the other way. A couple plays later, he outran two Raptors to pick up a deflected Lowry pass, and scored a layup, and then after helping blow up a Lowry-Gasol pick-and-roll, he probed into the lane and found Jaylen Brown open in the corner for three. He then picked up another assist on a Brown jumper, and again successfully denied a Lowry attack on the other end before a Kemba Walker J sealed the run.

So along with one steal, one charge drawn and his overall his stellar D, Smart either scored or assisted on 11 of those 15 points during that run.

And in the fourth quarter, he had what may have been a game-saving block on Norman Powell’s possibly ill-advised fast break attempt.

He’s easy to hate, but Smart was a huge difference maker last night and all series

by **bobheckler** Sat Sep 12, 2020 10:39 pm

by **Ktron** Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:21 pm

dboss wrote:From a Raptors blog, takeaway #5 Marcus Smart

5. Give it up for Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum was spectacular last night, and I take nothing away from him. But Marcus Smart’s fingerprints were all over this series.

He may not have much class, may flail and flop more than anyone else in the league, but he is a damn fine defender. Which, honestly, just makes the flopping that much more egregious. He doesn’t need to flop! He’s not Patrick Beverley. He’s actually a legitimately good defender, both on the ball and as a help defender.

He was such a difference maker all series. He hit five threes in Game 1, and followed that up in a much-tighter Game 2 by hitting five threes in the fourth quarter to help seal a Celtics win. He stymied Pascal Siakam repeatedly in the two games, gave both Lowry and VanVleet fits whenever he guarded either one, and successfully guarded Serge Ibaka at times too. He was straight cash money from the corners in Game 6.

Last night, with the Raptors up seven in the second quarter, he sparked a 15-2 run almost entirely on his own. First, he stole a VanVleet pass, and threw a perfect alley-oop to Tatum. Then he drew an offensive foul on Ibaka, and hit a floater the other way. A couple plays later, he outran two Raptors to pick up a deflected Lowry pass, and scored a layup, and then after helping blow up a Lowry-Gasol pick-and-roll, he probed into the lane and found Jaylen Brown open in the corner for three. He then picked up another assist on a Brown jumper, and again successfully denied a Lowry attack on the other end before a Kemba Walker J sealed the run.

So along with one steal, one charge drawn and his overall his stellar D, Smart either scored or assisted on 11 of those 15 points during that run.

And in the fourth quarter, he had what may have been a game-saving block on Norman Powell’s possibly ill-advised fast break attempt.

He’s easy to hate, but Smart was a huge difference maker last night and all series

Marcus is a baller and you are right, h had his fingerprints all over this series. However, I’m trying to understand your stating that he “may not have much class”. Can you expound on that?

by **dboss** Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:26 pm

Ktron wrote:
dboss wrote:From a Raptors blog, takeaway #5 Marcus Smart

5. Give it up for Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum was spectacular last night, and I take nothing away from him. But Marcus Smart’s fingerprints were all over this series.

He may not have much class, may flail and flop more than anyone else in the league, but he is a damn fine defender. Which, honestly, just makes the flopping that much more egregious. He doesn’t need to flop! He’s not Patrick Beverley. He’s actually a legitimately good defender, both on the ball and as a help defender.

He was such a difference maker all series. He hit five threes in Game 1, and followed that up in a much-tighter Game 2 by hitting five threes in the fourth quarter to help seal a Celtics win. He stymied Pascal Siakam repeatedly in the two games, gave both Lowry and VanVleet fits whenever he guarded either one, and successfully guarded Serge Ibaka at times too. He was straight cash money from the corners in Game 6.

Last night, with the Raptors up seven in the second quarter, he sparked a 15-2 run almost entirely on his own. First, he stole a VanVleet pass, and threw a perfect alley-oop to Tatum. Then he drew an offensive foul on Ibaka, and hit a floater the other way. A couple plays later, he outran two Raptors to pick up a deflected Lowry pass, and scored a layup, and then after helping blow up a Lowry-Gasol pick-and-roll, he probed into the lane and found Jaylen Brown open in the corner for three. He then picked up another assist on a Brown jumper, and again successfully denied a Lowry attack on the other end before a Kemba Walker J sealed the run.

So along with one steal, one charge drawn and his overall his stellar D, Smart either scored or assisted on 11 of those 15 points during that run.

And in the fourth quarter, he had what may have been a game-saving block on Norman Powell’s possibly ill-advised fast break attempt.

He’s easy to hate, but Smart was a huge difference maker last night and all series

Marcus is a baller and you are right, h had his fingerprints all over this series. However, I’m trying to understand your stating that he “may not have much class”. Can you expound on that?

ktron

I did not write this.

It is from a Raptor Fan's view. It is their opinion.

by **RosalieTCeltics** Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:42 pm

And if we, as a Celtic's fan had to write a post how would we call the outstanding play of Kyle Lowry, who spent more time on the floor than Marcus Smart, Kenba Walker and Jaylen Brown combined. What is "class"???? They have a nerve. I take that as an insult. Just because they believe Lowry carried his team, we are supposed to accept that remark. I have to laugh at remarks like this, shows they know little about the game

by **Ktron** Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:45 pm

dboss wrote:
Ktron wrote:
dboss wrote:From a Raptors blog, takeaway #5 Marcus Smart

5. Give it up for Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum was spectacular last night, and I take nothing away from him. But Marcus Smart’s fingerprints were all over this series.

He may not have much class, may flail and flop more than anyone else in the league, but he is a damn fine defender. Which, honestly, just makes the flopping that much more egregious. He doesn’t need to flop! He’s not Patrick Beverley. He’s actually a legitimately good defender, both on the ball and as a help defender.

He was such a difference maker all series. He hit five threes in Game 1, and followed that up in a much-tighter Game 2 by hitting five threes in the fourth quarter to help seal a Celtics win. He stymied Pascal Siakam repeatedly in the two games, gave both Lowry and VanVleet fits whenever he guarded either one, and successfully guarded Serge Ibaka at times too. He was straight cash money from the corners in Game 6.

Last night, with the Raptors up seven in the second quarter, he sparked a 15-2 run almost entirely on his own. First, he stole a VanVleet pass, and threw a perfect alley-oop to Tatum. Then he drew an offensive foul on Ibaka, and hit a floater the other way. A couple plays later, he outran two Raptors to pick up a deflected Lowry pass, and scored a layup, and then after helping blow up a Lowry-Gasol pick-and-roll, he probed into the lane and found Jaylen Brown open in the corner for three. He then picked up another assist on a Brown jumper, and again successfully denied a Lowry attack on the other end before a Kemba Walker J sealed the run.

So along with one steal, one charge drawn and his overall his stellar D, Smart either scored or assisted on 11 of those 15 points during that run.

And in the fourth quarter, he had what may have been a game-saving block on Norman Powell’s possibly ill-advised fast break attempt.

He’s easy to hate, but Smart was a huge difference maker last night and all series

Marcus is a baller and you are right, h had his fingerprints all over this series. However, I’m trying to understand your stating that he “may not have much class”. Can you expound on that?

ktron

I did not write this.

It is from a Raptor Fan's view. It is their opinion.

My bad

by **dboss** Sun Sep 13, 2020 2:18 pm

I actually thought it was a very astute post and the most detailed account of what he did to help us win. He breaks it down play by play during our 15-2 run

Every fan base in the NBA would love to have Marcus Smart on their team and they know it.

by **dbrown4** Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:58 pm

What's funny about MS and his gift is, you can't really plan against good defense. I haven't seen it yet. Usually everyone is focusing on how to shut down your team's greatest scorers.
You can plan like the Lakers did against a great scorer, James Harden, and get the ball out of his hands at half court, but you really can't plan for great defense. (And that's not even really planning because it leaves another guy wide open.) It's coming no matter what you do as the opposing team. You can't negate his defense because he is the only one on you and makes all these things happen himself. You can't just send him to the bench.

Now, in the league's eyes, he's gone about it all backwards, being known first as a defensive specialist and then later in his career moving to more dependable, solid scoring. But as we saw in this series, he can score from anywhere and in bunches when needed. You can't "waste" time, energy and personnel guarding MS since we will now have 4-5 other guys on the court at the same time that can score at will, you can only hope he hasn't picked your number when you're coming down the court on offense.

So as an opposing team, what do you do about MS? You can tell no one has really planned anything. Great defensive players are a nuisance to the opposition. They are like a bad, nagging cold or much worse flu that won't go away that can potentially lead to death. You can maybe try to pick and roll him off of you but he'll just keep coming back. (More like the flies that gather around my grill every time I cook out. I finally got a HotShot spray can that I just keep out there and spray them right in the face! That keeps them away for a while but they keep coming back.) Opposing teams are just hoping he doesn't go off for five 3's in a row in addition to picking your pocket. Great, great "problem" to have.

I don't see a great defense for great defense. I like Smart because he probably gets under your skin insidiously much more than the flamboyant PatBev does. Pat does it to been seen. Marcus does it because it's his job. That is much, much more annoying and devastating than what the Clips have.

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